UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2015

  • Wendy Morton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Wendy Morton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wendy Morton on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the EU, Africa and the Middle East on diplomatic steps to tackle the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean.

    Mr David Lidington

    Ministers discuss the current migration crisis with EU counterparts and those from other affected regions on a regular basis. Last night, The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) met with African and EU representatives as part of a British Chairmanship of the Khartoum Process.The UK is playing a leading role in taking forward joint efforts.

    For example, countering people smuggling will be a priority for the UK in its engagement with a new Libyan Government resulting from the UN-led process.The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron)announced in Valletta £200 million of new UK money for projects in Africa to address the root causes of migration. 31 European nations and 36 African nations attended the Valletta Summit on Migration earlier this month.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of his Department’s employees were paid (a) at the national minimum wage and (b) above the national minimum wage but below the voluntary living wage in each of the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    DWP has paid its employees above the National Minimum Wage throughout the last five years.

    DWP has paid its employees above the voluntary living wage with the following exceptions:

    – A short period from October 2013 to June 2014, following the October 2013 uprating of the voluntary living wage rate. During that time 229 (less than 0.3%) DWP employees earned 1p per hour below the figure.

    – From November 2015 when the voluntary living wage rate was increased by 5.1%. Currently 1,145 (1.4%) employees earn between 4-21p less per hour than the uprated voluntary living wage figure.

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Greg Clark

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 November 2015, PQ 13946.

  • Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Worthington on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to undertake a review of the Emissions Performance Standard under section 66 of the Energy Act 2013.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Section 66 of the Energy Act 2013 requires the Emissions Performance Standard to be reviewed as soon as reasonably practicable after December 2018.

  • Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will specify the comparable operators whose costs would be taken into account prior to the Opex reopeners for the contract for difference relating to Hinkley Point C power station being triggered 15 and 25 years after the first reactor start date.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The terms of the Hinkley Point C Contract for difference (HPC CfD) will set out the mechanism for the Opex reopeners. If my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State decides to direct the Low Carbon Contracts Company Ltd to offer a CfD to HPC, the terms will be published (with commercially sensitive information removed) once it has been entered in to by the parties. The detailed terms of the HPC CfD are commercially sensitive at this time.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the drought and food shortage in Ethiopia, and what support is being offered to those affected.

    Baroness Verma

    DFID has been following the evolution of the drought and its impact since the middle of 2015, working with the Government of Ethiopia, the UN system and other donors to compile and assess information on rainfall, production and food and non-food needs. On December 11th the Government and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) which assessed that 10.2 million people would need emergency food assistance in the first half of 2016 due to the effects of the drought. This is on top of the 8 million Ethiopians who are chronically food insecure, and who already receive multi-year support through the Government’s rural public works programme. 5.8 million people require assistance obtaining clean water, health and sanitation; and a projected 400,000 children will require treatment for severe malnutrition.

    The UK Government has provided one of the earliest and largest packages of assistance to tackle the effects of the drought. In July, DFID provided £45 million to the response, which provided food to 2.3 million people; nutritional support to 258,000 severely malnourished children; and assistance to water, sanitation and health needs of the drought-affected communities.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to (a) simplify and (b) increase the effectiveness of regulatory standards on trade in horses.

    George Eustice

    Defra is taking a number of steps to simplify and strengthen existing rules for horses. These include implementation of new tighter EU legislation for equine identification, introduction of a new UK equine database recording horse identification information, and continuing to take an intelligence-led and risk based approach to enforcing the regulatory framework which relates to the domestic and international trade in horses.

  • Lord Mancroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mancroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the national framework for hepatitis C, due for release in spring 2015, will be published, and why it has been delayed.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    A date for publication of the hepatitis C improvement framework has not yet been set. Public Health England continues working with NHS England and Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) to establish a process of monitoring hepatitis C treatment access and uptake.

    Following their establishment in August 2015, ODNs will need to continue to be developed as a mechanism for ensuring equitable access to expert multidisciplinary team care and treatment for hepatitis C. ODNs are working to develop their plans, based on the published service specification and with the support of local specialised commissioning teams and regional clinical directors of specialised commissioning. Work is also underway to establish by February 2016 a national network of ODN clinical leads to share good practice. In addition, the draft hepatitis C improvement framework includes a number of areas pertinent to ODN operation and will therefore support further development of their role.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions are in place to safeguard the welfare of pregnant women in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.

    James Brokenshire

    Pregnant women are not normally detained. The only exceptions to this general rule are where removal is imminent and medical advice does not suggest the woman’s baby is due before the expected removal date.

    Fitness to travel by air is assessed on a case by case basis using guidance from the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). The guidance states that for a single, uncomplicated pregnancy, travel could be appropriate without a medical certificate up to 37 weeks.

    Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre has a dedicated Care Suite that offers enhanced care to vulnerable and pregnant women, staffed by a dedicated female member of staff. Midwives from NHS Bedford Hospital Trust visit the centre once a week and the centre’s GP or nurses can be accessed 7 days a week and can refer any specific concerns to the ante natal clinic, Early Pregnancy Unit in hospital or other appropriate service if necessary. The centre also has a Pregnancy Liaison Officer who provides a range of support and welfare services to pregnant detainees.

  • Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish data about actual spending on mental health services for each Clinical Commissioning Group in England in 2015–16.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    As part of the mental health parity of esteem requirement for 2015-16, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were asked to plan for an increase in spend on mental health services at least in line with the increase in their overall funding allocation for the year, which set a higher bar than achieving a real terms increase in spending, though not all CCGs were able to achieve this target. 192 of the 209 CCGs achieved a real terms growth in mental health planned spend measured against the 1.4% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator for 2015-16.

    The list attached shows which CCGs have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health in 2015-16.

    The final data for CCGs’ spending on mental health in 2015-16 will be submitted to NHS England by commissioners in May 2016, and it is anticipated NHS England may be in a position to provide final spend information by around the end of the first quarter of 2016-17.

    NHS England has not yet published CCG planning guidance for 2016-17. Consideration will be given to holding commissioners to account for spending on mental health.

    CCG and NHS England mental health spending information is now routinely collected as party of NHS England’s monthly financial reporting regime. Monthly financial reports by CCGs are scrutinised and quality assessed by NHS England’s regional teams. The monthly reports also form part of the CCG assurance process. NHS England is also in the process of setting up the financial plan assurance process for 2016-17, which will incorporate the review of planned spending on mental health services for future years.